Tonight the current edition of the BUD challenge league concluded. Coming into the final day I was leading with 52 wins and Jin was second with 50 wins. I was done with my matches and Jin had 3 legs left to play against Rick. Rick took two, which gave me the Championship 52-51! As a result, I was both jazzed and 100,000 Won richer. Imagine my surprise at that outcome:

Woo Hoo!

Jin I am sure was disappointed. He played some damn good darts and I expect he is going to be a force to be reckoned with in the future.

Duke was in the money with a third place finish.

With the regular season concluded, it was time for tournament. I drew Duke in the first round. He pretty much owned me in cricket, but I eeked out a victory in the ’01 leg. Duke then won the diddle and to my surprise called ’01 again. I threw a couple of high tons and a 97 late that left me with a 50 out. I sent my first dart at the double bull and hit the damn thing for a stunning victory.

I then beat Rick and Jin to finish at the top of the winners bracket and had about a 2 hour wait until the losers bracket concluded. Sitting at the bar I felt myself fading fast (with the late night associated with Duke’s party I hadn’t slept much). It was either coffee or a nap, and I opted for the later finding a relatively quiet corner in the bar to rest my weary head. I dozed for an hour and woke up feeling better, but still a little out of sorts.

Jin wound up coming back to face me from the losers bracket. He needed to win two matches to take the tourney victory. In the first leg of the first match, I squeaked out a cricket win. Jin then annialated me in ’01, hitting two ton-forty’s and a couple of more tons. I still had 300 points on the board when he hit his double out. He won the diddle and called ’01 again. Although it was much closer, he still pulled out the win.

So, it was the second match for all the marbles. I won the diddle and called cricket and pretty much dominated for the win. In the second leg, it was back to ’01 and we played it neck and neck all the way to the end. Jin had a 32 out and I was sitting on 24. Jin took three throws at the double 16 and missed. My second dart hit the mark and I was the tourney Champ. Made myself another cool 100,000W to boot.

I really was more pleased than I appear here. Just dog ass tired. Jin gave me everything I could handle and I was just drained.

Jin with his second place bounty.

Rick got 3rd place in the tourney. He had already gone home, so Grant stepped in and did his best Rick impression. Actually, not bad….

Here’s some of the motely crew who are regulars in the Dolce Vita dart circuit. Left to right: Colin, Lonnie, Mario, Duke, Jin, Me, Jim, Grant and Cuatro. We may not look like much, but we have a lot of fun and it is a great group of guys.

So, not a bad finish to the weekend, eh?